Monday, 6 June 2011

Sadly the first International Alternative Press Festival came to an unofficial* close yesterday. The zine fair, which was over the bank holiday weekend, was amazing and the biggest since APF records began, which isn't actually that long ago. Here's a picture Simone took which seems to adequately capture the excitement of the two days.

Despite the presence of so much cool work and many new zines, between doing workshops and telling people the life story of each zine on our stall, I didn't get much time to have a proper look around. I did however pick up a funny book by Sam Rees, who was a few stalls down, called Mouths. Its a simple concept but I think its really effective and well executed.

I tried to show it to other people but they just looked at me like I had mental problems or something. My dentistry mate Sana also picked up a 'brush your teeth' badge which should make a subtle addition to her clinical uniform.

And last but not least here's a little taste of my mad sewing skills. I made this headband in Rosie Martin's 'make a headband workshop' which I had no intention of attending but I'm glad I did because it was really cool and my sewing lady mum was really impressed with my headband. Thanks to all the APF organisers and helpers for all their hard work, hopefully next years festival will be even bigger and better!

*Officially there are still a few ongoing exhibitions happening at Orbital up until the 13th but the juicy bits are gone!